View Single Post
      01-26-2014, 04:21 AM   #1
hcclemes
New Member
2
Rep
22
Posts

Drives: M5 Competition Pack
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Cheshire, Great Britain

iTrader: (0)

M5 Competition Pack

I have been reading these forums for many months now prior to ordering my M5 and have found them very helpful.
Therefore I thought it about time I signed up and posted my experiences so far along with some pictures.

I found many articles extremely helpful to me when trying to decide what exact specification to go for.
In the end I plumped for the following.

Monte Carlo Blue
Sakhir Orange Full Merino Leather
Competition Pack
Powered Bootlid
Comfort Access
Soft Close Doors
Climate Comfort Windscreen
Electric Towbar
Reversing Cameras
Matt Aluminium exterior trim
Massage Front Seats
Ski Bag
Split Folding Rear Seats
Heated Rear Seats
Anthracite Wood Trim
M Multi Function Comfort Front Seats
LED Headlamps
Surround View Cameras
Harmon Kardon Loadspeakers
Internet
Online Entertainment
Privacy Rear Glass
Speed Limit Display
5 years service inclusive

Many people I spoke to about the colour combination that I was thinking of ordering tried to talk me out of it. The general consensus was that firstly Sakhir Orange was far to over the top and to go for full coverage was just going to make the situation a whole lot worse.
Also the majority of opinion was that no way would orange leather go well with Monte Carlo Blue.
Even some of the BMW sales guys tried to dissuade me from this choice. This caused me no end of sleepless nights trying to decide what combination to go for.

Well as you can see from the pictures I stuck with my original choice and boy am I glad I did! To my eyes and everyone who has seen it so far it looks superb. All of the doubters are now in agreement too. I don't know why but I cannot get the orange leather to look the same colour in pictures as it does in the flesh; what I can say is it looks far nicer physically than in any pictures I have seen.
I changed the matt black window trim to Matt Aluminium as I wanted a better match to the gills, alloys and door handles. I know many people go the other way but I just did not want a “blacked out” car.

When I was ordering my car back in September 2013 I felt that I really had no choice about wether to order the CP or not. Firstly I thought come resale time people would really want this and possibly overlook non CP specced cars. But of more importance to me was that I felt there were a lot of small but significant detail changes that added up to a slightly more sporting experience. Of particular interest to me was the quicker steering rack, stiffer suspension and louder exhaust. When taking my test drive those were the three areas that I felt the CP changes would bring real benefit for me. The steering in the non CP car did seem slow, the ride did feel it would benefit from being a little tauter and I really did feel that the car would suit me better with a louder exhaust. I also prefer the slightly lower stance of the car and I absolutely love the CP alloys. I have read much discussion on here about the styling of these wheels and I have to say I agree with other members that they do look better in front of you as opposed to in pictures. Also whist I do like the other 20” alloys that can be ordered two things put me off doing this. Firstly there seem to be a few BMW alloys that are the same or very similar available on other BMW cars. Secondly I felt if I was going to have the CP pack then why try and hide it.
Of the other CP changes I have not yet been able to “discover” these, i.e. MDM and power and torque improvements as I have yet to have the 1200 mile service carried out. (Booked in next Friday!!).

With regard to the rest of the specification that I ordered I know I went a little over the top but I figured I will keep this car for a minimum of 4 years so I wanted to get the exact car I wanted. Oh, and I did get 16% discount too.
Collected it on December the 20th and so far I absolutely love it.

I have made two alterations to the car; I have fitted the ExhaustMeister and what I can say, for me, is that I have no need to make my cay any louder. It really does sound lovely and plenty loud enough. I do believe that this car does an incredible job of hiding any exhaust noise, regardless of exhaust fitted, and that the actual noise people outside the car hear is far greater than many drivers may realise.

Secondly I have had the entire car covered in XPel Ultimate film with the exception of rear roof from behind the sunroof and boot lid;(Should I say trunk lid).
Again I have done this as I will keep the car for awhile and I hate stone, (rock), chips.
I know you wont be able to tell the film is there from the pictures; great job.

Oil Consumption. I don't think I should say too much here about this as I know many forum members feel this topic has been done to death. However I would like to say what I have experienced with my past, large engined, twin turbo charged cars.
I always run in as best I can to exactly the manufactures recommendations. I know many people feel that a much harder break in is better and I am not qualified to disagree with this view. However what is, in my opinion, far more important, particularly so with turbo charged engines, is that the engine must be allowed to reach normal operating temperature before using the revs and torque or getting those turbos to spin under significant load. I have not read or seen much on here with regard to the temp before revs.
Whilst of course it is far too soon for me to have used much oil so far the car has done 1150 miles and the oil is still showing exactly at the same level as on the day I collected the car. I have kept below 2k revs until normal oil temp has been reached and then never gone above 5k or two thirds throttle.
It remains to be seen if I will use oil when I start to extend the car; I will update when I know. This is just my opinion and is based on previous experience.

Other points of interest:
Attached Images
          
Appreciate 0